Biggest ever training event

Over the last weekend in April, Millennium Mills in East London was the scene of one of the biggest and most comprehensive training exercises in our history.

The crash

From Saturday to Monday the mill was transformed into the site of a major aircraft crash, complete with a real plane fuselage, hundreds of tonnes of rubble and some brave actors playing the parts of the injured passengers.

The event was part of the work that London’s emergency services, as well as colleagues from across the country, do together to make sure that we are ready for any emergency, at any time.

Working together

Over 220 emergency service personnel from London and across the country took part in the exercise, including specialist Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams, Metropolitan Police Service – with a diving team, and the London Ambulance Service.

‘Real life’ training

None of the emergency service personnel knew what they would be facing when they arrived at the scene to make the exercise as real as possible. To maintain the realism further, actors wearing prosthetics were used simulate the badly injured passengers from the aeroplane.

London Fire Commissioner, Ron Dobson, said:

“It is only through this kind of exercise that we can fully test our plans and ensure that all the agencies which would be involved can respond effectively together, in a co-ordinated manner.